Jacob's Talk

Jacob was selected to give a talk this week and without any poking and proding he came home from church last week, grabed some paper and a pencil and went to work. This is the product of all of his efforts.

I wanted you to see the pictures he drew so I had him do it again and just zoomed in on them.

Emma's Atricles of Faith

Emma has been working to memorize all of her articles of faith. She has now passed off all 13 of them.

Grandma really wanted to see her saying one. This post is mostly for her, but all are welcome to enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was AWESOME! Turkey with the works! And I mean works! In fact there were so many works it was quite a bit of work. I thought I would get out of baking pies this year because we were invited to a friends for desert, but a terrible traffic accident closed down the road to their house so we had to turn around and just come home. Once home we were slightly relieved that our tummies were not quite as stuffed as dessert would have made them. The kids are still requesting we make pie sometime to make up for the ones we missed out on. Maybe tomorrow.

This month in celebration of Thanksgiving, we had a gratitude box in our house. When ever someone thought about something they were thankful for they wrote it down and put it in the gratitude box. Jacob and Emma mostly drew pictures, but it was a fun way to get everyone thinking about our wonderful blessings.

"All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"

Last Sunday Philip was very crabby at church. We could not figure out why! Then a day or two later we found out. A tooth! He was getting a tooth!

Benjamin didn't get his first until almost 11 months, and as a nursing mom I couldn't have been happier, but because of this I was not expecting him to have one quite yet. Yay! A Tooth! He was even crabbier today so I am expecting him to have two by Christmas at least.

Woody!

Many boys love Buzz and Woody at some point. Benjamin LOVES Woody. Here he is reading and acting out a story about Woody and his cowboy friends in this book. The story following the Woody story is one about Nemo, which he also seems to like.

Going Bump in the Night

What goes bump in the night at your house?

At ours house the answer seems to be Benjamin!

Where do kids come up with these things?

All By Myself

Here is Jacob. He is a typical 6 year old boy that never ceases to amaze us. We just purchased new ties for the boys and Jacob has grown so much lately we had to buy him a longer tie. The next size up for boys was a "real" tie without the clippy thing that goes around his neck. The first week he wore it Nato showed him how to tie it. The next week I was really worried because Nato had morning meetings and sometimes Jacob does not care for "Mom's help" when it is a "guy thing." There was no need to worry though, Jacob picked out his tie and walked into the bathroom. A few minutes later he came out smiling! It looked awesome! I am sure if I would have helped it would have been crooked or something!

I Love to See the Temple

In August of 2007 we set a goal to attend the temple once a month for the next year. We realized this would take some planning and sacrifice, but we knew we would be blessed over and over again for our efforts.

In July of this year we completed our goal and set out to continue attending monthly until Nato has completed his Masters Degree. This has been an even greater sacrifice as our time is so full, but we are determined to do it. Living in Florida has made this a very enjoyable goal to work on. Each month we take the kids with us to Orlando and check into a hotel.

Nato and I then take turns attending the temple, while the other stays with the kids. Then the next day, since we are already in the tourist capital of the world, we do something as a family together. Our annual passes to Disney World have kept us occupied with little extra cost to our budget, but our passes have expired and so this month we headed to Sea World to enjoy a complimentary day for our military member, Nato, and his family, us!

It is always fun to be together and see exhibits and ride the rides, but the important part is the temple. The fun stuff is just a bonus, but what a BONUS!

As our time here in Florida is now drawing to a close we look back with appreciation for the blessing of a temple in Orlando.

The temple we will attend while stationed in Louisiana is in Dallas. It will be just three hours away from us as well, so we feel our newest goal can still be completed. My only question is. . . .

What do people do for family fun in Dallas?

Annual Primary Program

Sunday was the day of our annual primary program. Emma and Jacob were really excited and I was nervous. Emma, being still three, is the youngest in Primary right now. The next youngest is about to turn 6 in February. So there is a huge age gap! Emma is not shy, but she has picked up on a trade the last few months I like to call, "If I act like I need help I get LOTS of help!" But trust me she really doesn't need help. At home she will do anything to keep up with Jacob, but at church she pulls out those puppy dog eyes and the primary leaders will do anything for her. The women in primary are wonderful so I can't complain about the LOADS of help they give her, I just didn't want to see an "Emma meltdown" in the middle of sacrament meeting.

We worked and worked for weeks on her part and then the big day came. Jacob and Emma were the last two children on the program and I sat and worried the whole way through. I watched the wiggles the turning around in the seats and wondered if and when fear might set in. As we neared the end I saw Emma whisper something to the leader sitting next to her and I knew we were in for trouble. The leader looked at me in the audience and mouthed the words I could see coming, "She has to go to the bathroom!"

As quickly and reverently as possible we wralked (walking so fast it looks like running, but it is really just walking so it is okay to do in a church in an emergency) to the bathroom. Emma sat down and said "Whew Mom! We just made it!" I knew she was right but we still needed to get back FAST. Quickly we finished and wralked back returning her to her seat as reverently as possible. We had a little time to spare so I sat myself down and tried to be calm. Jacob had told me the day before I was going to cry my eyes out at their program and he was right!

Jacob got up first and told a personal story about a time he had a bad dream and said a prayer to feel better so he could go back to sleep. I get choked up just thinking of his words, so simple, so honest.

Emma, last of all, stepped up to the podium and after a slight pause announce, "I know that I am a beloved child of God and we are all brothers and sisters. I love my Heavenly Father and I love the Savior."

She had done it perfectly and between the two I had my flood gates wide open. Not because they had stepped up there without any one's help. I was crying because I knew that Jacob and Emma both know God and the Savior and they do trust and love them!

Can you guess where the Taylors are moving?

It is time once again for the Taylors to find themselves on the move.

We are always excited to find out where in the world the Taylors will be. This assignment has been a complete surprise and we are really jazzed to announce that we will be stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana! No, it's not Hawaii, but it might be just about as hot in the summer from what we have heard. The most surprising part about our new assignment is that we had some friends here in Florida that were at Intel school with Nato years ago. Nato ran into him, Jeremy, when we were moving down here in 2006. With their help, we found a home to rent near them. This family, the Coles, just moved from here to Barskdale this past summer. So it looks as though we will be following them to Louisiana and we are definitely okay with that!

My new motto is "Never say goodbye. See you later is all you really need!"

FEET!

Philip has now officially found his feet! Now every time we change a diaper, especially, he loves to hold on to them for dear life, but even in play he seems to love them. After all they are the toy that does not fall and roll out of reach no matter how many times he lets go!

Just For Fun

Each time we make smoothies we use the disposable cups the kids received the last time we dined at Romano’s Macaroni Grill. This past week while enjoying our smoothies Jacob asked, “Dad, what’s a Romano?” Before Nato could answer, Emma interjected, “Nothing! What’s a motto with you?”

Milestones

Philip is now starting to grab objects. I can't believe he is already at that stage. They get big so fast and we want to share these special milestones with you.

O is for Pumpkin!

Okay, okay so O is not for pumpkin, but O is for October and this October we were craving pumpkin. So we really pumpkined it up! It all started when we began to miss the lack of seasonal change around here. I was craving something ANYTHING that would help us feel Autumn was here. Then the thought of pumpkin cookies came to mind, but cookies are only eaten in this house by Nato and Robin (seriously the kids will eat one from a batch and decline on any more) so we had to come up with something else.

As I discussed my dilemma with a friend she offer to share a recipe she had for Pumpkin Oatmeal. I made up the first batch and the whole family was in heaven. The smell of Autumn was EVERYWHERE and we all got very excited!

A day or two later Jacob found a recipe in a children's magazine for Pumpkin Soup and insisted on trying it. The fever was contagious! Soon we were trying Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Waffles, Pumpkin Pancakes, and even Pumpkin & Black Bean Chili. But not a single cookie or pie was created this month, only healthy foods pack with this wonderful orange vegetable. I thought we would be getting sick of this pumpkinitis, but no, four times this week the kids asked for Pumpkin Oatmeal and I enjoyed each morning we were able to eat it.

I have been through so many cans of pumpkin I feel I should really be buying stock in "Libby's."

So if you have any extra pumpkin lying around this holiday and you want a healthy way to feed it to your family let me know I will send you my stack of Pumpkin Recipes.

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter

Halloween

Halloween was full of fun this year.

We were pleased to have a Clone Trooper,

Supergirl,

Superbaby,

and Peter Pan to take out for the night.

Our neighborhood is a little on the dull side for trick or treating. About 1 in 4 houses actually answer the door and after feeling rejected 3/4 of the time for the past two years we decided to try something different.

At Dolphin Stadium an annual Fall Festival is held on Halloween night for a safe and fun Halloween. It had a small cover charge, but we felt it was worth it for the huge carnival complete with complimentary refreshments, and lots of candy. It was a really nice option, though we seemed to not be the only ones in South Florida attending. IT WAS PACKED! We stood in lines longer than any line we have stood in at Disney World over the past two years. No wonder no one answers the doors, they must all be frequent attendees of this carnival.

But the kids received ample amounts of candy and we were able to ride a couple things before the night was over.

The only draw back we found was the candy was a little too easy to get. The kids actually felt as though they didn't get to trick or treat enough because we only had to go to two places at the carnival for candy and they each walked away with a pumpkin full. To try to appease them we stop at a friends house on the way home and they knock on a couple doors. This was definitely one Halloween we will not soon forget!

Carving Pumpkins with the kids. Jacob actually carved his pumpkin by himself for the first time this year!